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Jury Duty, Indiana County Court House

Carried every day to and from the court house. Deputies at the entrance were unfazed.

Let them know you're carrying.

They wave you through the checkpoint to a small room adjacent thereto.

You then remove the gun in its holster from your belt, they check your LTCF, get a description (brand, model) and serial number, and you place it in a locker. They keep the key, but you get a number tag.

You then go back out and go through security properly like everyone else.

Comes exit time you let them know, they bring you into the room, you hand over your number tag, they open the lock box, you get your gun, and you exit the court house.

They only have three (3) lock boxes, with no clear idea of what to do if they get swamped by carriers.

But, the number of carriers is remarkably low. The log sheet I saw was only one third full, and four of the entries on it were mine (same gun every day so they didn't have to check the serial number every day). They might well go a full week or two without anyone carrying.

All in all, an inconvenience compared to some places I've read about, but much less than others.

Again, for the deputies, they were unfazed and totally professional throughout.

Re: Jury Duty, Indiana County Court House

All in all, an experience and a half. Jury selection all day Monday (I got to go home early because I was picked early on). All day Tuesday and half of Wednesday the Prosecution talked, and called witnesses, and showed evidence. Wednesday afternoon the Defense did his thing. Thursday was closing arguments by both sides, followed by instructions from the Judge, and finally deliberations.

Trust me, when they told us it was an Awesome Responsibility (plus our civic duty), we found out how much weight they had thrown on our shoulders. All I could think of was the teleplay, "Twelve Angry Men." But, we listened to what each of us had to say, how we felt, and went out of the way to be most respectful and understanding of each and every one of our fellow jurors - awesome responsibility and all that. We had to get another definition of the law from the Judge, and finally we rendered our verdict - Guilty of Second Degree Murder, Guilty of Robbery, Not Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Murder, and Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Robbery.

Sheriff's Deputies escorted us all from the court house to the parking garage, which is something they always do with a criminal trial. Everyone else went out a side door, I had to go out the front since I had to retrieve my handgun. Again, Deputies totally unfazed by a citizen exercising his Second Amendment rights.

On the bright side, we get paid nine dollars a day plus twenty-two cents a mile (and I live some 23.2 miles away). For Monday and Tuesday they provided coffee, tea, water or Pepsi, plus doughnuts. Wednesday was mini-cupcakes, and Thursday was assorted cookies. Since we were locked in for jury deliberations, they also provided lunch.

Again, awesome responsibility. We took our duties seriously. And, if you've ever wondered why a jury ruled the way they did for some big criminal trial, I can now understand what the jury went through to get to their verdict.

One thing all of us learned from the trial was that video cameras are everywhere. During the trial we saw video recordings from various spots along the defendants' travels. Sheetz gas stations are filled with cameras recording everything, and the police detectives were able to get video records of such during their investigation. So, the next time you visit agas station, or a bank, or a supermarket, whether inside or outside, just remember, “Smile You're on Candid Camera.”

Re: Jury Duty, Indiana County Court House

Great! Guess who just received his 'OFFICIAL -- JURY SUMMONS' in Saturday's mail. This will be my sixth time, with one actual trial, one settled as soon as the jury was selected, one dodged bullet in a very notorious case (the kind that was in the papers everyday for over a week), and two where "I did not have to come on when I called the night before.

Re: Jury Duty, Indiana County Court House

Lehigh County population density - 900 per square mile
Indiana County population density - 108 per square mile

That's why you've been called six times and I've only been called twice in the last twenty years - you've got more people, more crime, more court cases.

Out here in the hinterlands a murder trial is a big thing. Made the newspaper's front page three days running.

But, keeping on track with this forum, showing up at the court house packing heat was a total non issue.

Actually my count includes living in Lancaster, Lehigh, and York counties, but you are likely correct that this end of the state has more court cases. I also agree that until you have been on a jury, you cannot appreciate how awesome the responsibility is. I actually was jury foreman on the one case where we went thru the whole shebang. I appreciated that after it was over, the judge gave us thanks and let us know that he was in agreement with our verdict.

Re: Jury Duty, Indiana County Court House

Ours pointed out that here in Indiana County if they call 96 jurors they'll have at least 93 show up, but over in Philadelphia if they need 300 they have to call 1,500. He stated we take our jury duty very seriously, and we did.